Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com

If you go to any national sports site today, you're going to see at least one headline about Michael Vick.

During the slow portion of the NFL calendar, Vick is one of the more talked-about topics around the league as we kill time before the start of training camp (only 21 days away).

The most recent item in the Vick saga concerns a party he was scheduled to host in D.C. Sunday night. As first pointed out by Robert Littal of Black Sports Online, The Park at 14th, a club in Washington, was promoting Michael Vick's All-White Affair, a party hosted by Vick and celebrity friends on the Fourth of July.

Littal reports that Michael Vick's brother, Marcus, was in attendance.

A new Vick story seems to surface pretty much every day. Earlier in the weekend, the Eagles released a statement refuting an AP report that the team was strongly considering releasing Vick.

I just want training camp to start so we can get back to talking about football, but in the meantime, here are some links and opinions from writers around the country about Vick, and what the Eagles should do with him:

So now what does Philly do? There's little doubt in my mind that, in the wake of the shooting of Vick's former co-defendant at his birthday party last week in Virginia, the Eagles will consider cutting ties with Vick. I doubt they will, in part because of NFL reality -- it exposes the Eagles to a very thin quarterback situation three weeks before training camp. The only other quarterback aside from starter Kevin Kolb on the roster is Mike Kafka, the rookie from Northwestern, and the Eagles will surely second-guess themselves now for not being more involved in the Marc Bulger derby before he signed with the Ravens.

I've heard this argument used pretty frequently during the lasat week, and I'm not sure I totally buy it. Are we sure that the Eagles would face a significant downgrade at backup QB going from Vick to a veteran who they would have to add if they cut him? I'm not.

Besides, this season is about Kevin Kolb. If he happens to go down for a significant amount of time, the Eagles will continue to push forward, but in reality, the season will be pretty much lost anyway.

The Eagles need a quality backup for starting quarterback Kevin Kolb. The Eagles don't need a season-long sideshow from a wildcat gimmick who simply isn't prepared to serve as Kolb's understudy. So the Eagles should seize on the recent controversy involving Vick to close the door on the failed one-year experiment with him. Even if Vick stays in Philadelphia, the Eagles need a competent veteran backup with experience in the West Coast offense. So they should just dump Vick now, sign Jeff Garcia and move on. Pride and ego could get in the way. The Eagles went out on a limb last year to sign Vick, and cutting him now amounts to an admission that they never should have signed him in the first place. By the way, they never should have signed him in the first place.

NFL commissioner/top cop Roger Goodell should not bail out the Philadelphia Eagles by taking action against the Avon Barksdale of football. The more appropriate punishment would be to leave Vick’s cancerous carcass inside the Philly locker room, a fitting payback for the way the organization treated classy QB Donovan McNabb.

McNabb has spent more than a decade in the league focused on doing the things necessary to become a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. He’s never been properly appreciated by the people his conduct directly benefits. The NAACP in Philadelphia criticized McNabb for transitioning into a dropback passer. Philly deserves Michael Vick. The city had one of the league’s best for 11 years and never demanded that Eagles management consistently support him with top-flight personnel. And maybe we (black folks) deserve Vick, too. We shower him with undying loyalty even though his actions undermine our progress.

Some of Vick's diehard supporters are claiming the media is on a witch hunt. We're supposedly persecuting Vick and holding him to different standards than we do other dog-killing felons, though he's the only dog-killing felon I've ever met. All I'm doing is asking Vick to be smart. Have a party in your house, Mike. Hang out with the family. Spend time with the kids. Nothing wrong with that, is it? Is it? Those are far better options than having someone shot at your own party.

We encourage respectful comments but reserve the right to delete anything that doesn't contribute to an engaging dialogue.

Help us moderate this thread by flagging comments that violate our guidelines.

Comment policy:

Philly.com comments are intended to be civil, friendly conversations. Please treat other participants with respect and in a way that you would want to be treated. You are responsible for what you say. And please, stay on topic. If you see an objectionable post, please report it to us using the "Report Abuse" option.

Please note that comments are monitored by Philly.com staff. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable. Personal attacks, especially on other participants, are not permitted. We reserve the right to permanently block any user who violates these terms and conditions.

Additionally comments that are long, have multiple paragraph breaks, include code, or include hyperlinks may not be posted.

Sheil Kapadia is in his fifth season writing about the Eagles and the NFL for philly.com. His earliest
memories as a sports fan include several trips to Veterans Stadium with
his Dad. He's not a beat writer or an Insider, but is here to
discuss the NFL 365 days a year. E-mail him at skapadia@philly.com or
by clicking here